Category: Video

I have the biggest heart on for Pogo. Pogo being a 22-year old remix master living in Perth, Australia. He takes classic movies (from Up to Gone with the Wind), and puts together mixes consisting almost (>95%) entirely of sound bites from the movie. And they are MAGIC. Upular was my favorite until last week when my sister showed me Toyz Noize, which is a Toy Story mash.

POGO does some amazing stuff besides remixing soundtracks of course, my personal favorite is Splurgensh**ter; the video makes me smile every time. Darth Vader will never be the same. (Just watch it.. bonus points if you can identify the source of the “I want to move to the beat” clip.)

Obviously, being a remix artist, Pogo has come up against the various laws surrounding copyright, which he discusses a bit on his blog. He has had to go to battle against Disney for remixes of some of their classic movies including Alice in Wonderland. Some of his work (including a remix of Hook) is not legally available in online format, you have to go to his shows to see him mix live. Just need to get him to Vancouver.

Pogo’s work clearly embodies sampling as a loving reinterpretation of the original source material, and it is obviously done with a lot of respect for the original movies. And has rekindled many listeners’ love affairs with some of their childhood favorites. Not all movie production companies think so and still insist that this is money-grubbing copyright infringement.

Here are Pogo’s own words: “My work serves as free viral marketing to the organisations that own the films I sample from. It’s high time the music industry pulls its head out of its ass, and realises that today’s remix culture is an asset, not a liability. To shoot down the potential here would be utterly illogical.”

Yes, Thanksgiving was last week. But in my house, we didn’t do the big turkey dinner… instead we did three days of renovations and reorganization in our house. My father-in-law moved out on the Friday, and by Monday afternoon, we’d ripped out carpets in two rooms (and by carpets, I mean three layers of carpet and two layers of ANCIENT lino), moved our entire bedroom upstairs, and we both had functional offices again. We’re still putting the last few items in their new homes, but our house is so much more awesome now. Plus we finally get to live alone. Just my husband and me. And the odd spider.

Things are good… the first month of being 30 wasn’t as awesome as I would have hoped. Living situation stress, school stress, personal stress… But my PhD is finally getting off the ground, Big N and I get to finally set up our own household (and have way more space than we deserve), I’ve been getting needed sleep and exercise, and things are generally looking up. In fact, today in my kitchen, I did my own little daily affirmation, in the style of the oh-so-adorable Jessica.

No, there is no video of my version. But here is a list of things I love today.

I love my husband.

I love my sister.

I love my mom.

I love my friends.

I love my house.

I love my office.

I love my neighbourhood.

I love my dance community.

I love my community centre (yay for pools and random conversations in steam rooms LOL).

I love my backyard.

I love my cozy sweaters.

I love my music collection.

I love my books.

I love breakfast (proof below).

I can make tasty food.

I can get my simulations to run properly.

I can keep my house clean.

I would (like Jessica) love my haircut, except that I haven’t had one in 8 months. But I have one tomorrow! YES. Then hopefully I can add “I love my fabulous haircut” to the list. 🙂

Speaking of breakfast, check out the happy face that appeared in my (slightly overcooked) egg this morning? 😀

I gotta feeling that this song is going to still be stuck in my head until 2040, whether I want it to be or not. If you went to a wedding this summer (except mine), you heard it. You jumped around the same way you did when it was House of Pain on the stereo, perhaps you even longed for hip hop of a different era and thought about running to the bathroom to put your pants on backwards Kris Kross-style. (Or maybe that was just me… and I was wearing a dress at both weddings I was at this summer, so putting it on backwards would have just looked wiggedy-wiggedy-whack. Oh, 1992, how I miss you. Musically, anyways.)

The video contains scantily dressed women (shocker) grinding up on each other (shocker), lots of drinking and some glow in the dark paint (which I think is kinda cool… the new version of those glow bracelets/necklaces/earrings that popular culture has borrowed from the raver crowd?). I like that they show the girls falling over on the sidewalk at the end. Dunno, it makes me laugh. (And reminds me how I really REALLY don’t ever want to be the stumbly drunk girl at the end of the night.)

Note the 2010-appropriate battalion-style jacket on will.i.am … this will definitely date this video to the year.

Oh shut up. Even if you try diligently to avoid pop music tripe at all costs, you’ve probably heard this song. (If you haven’t, LUCKY. And then you probably shouldn’t watch the video. Or like turn the sound off or something.) Anyways, I’m sure we’ll look back at this in 30 years and be glad that 2010 is long gone. Of course Ke$ha will be replaced by some other musical tartlet du jour… then again, we might look back on this era rather fondly. After all we are in the middle of an 80’s revival, are we not? So in 2040, we should be ripe for a comeback of jeggings, hipster chic and those awful baggy-assed sweatpants (why would anybody want to look like they shat in their pants? REALLY girls. Oooo, I gotta do a fashion rant.)

Now, having watched that, meet Glozell. Here she is analyzing the above video, and I laughed my ASS off when I saw this. Pretty much sums up how I feel about Ke$ha’s oeuvre. Except that I don’t have that inner “oh no you DIDN’T”…

Time for me to brush my teeth and go to bed. I prefer to clean my pearly whites with Bombay though… leaves a nicer aftertaste than Jack Daniels, eh Ke$ha?

So apparently the weekend before last, Yo Gabba Gabba was in town. For those who don’t know, Yo Gabba Gabba is a children’s show on the Nick Jr network, and there’s a live show that tours around to entertain kids (and apparently parents as well). Fuzzy characters, hosted by a DJ character… silly songs about salient issues such as handwashing (it’s important!)… and guest appearances by lots of famous actors and musical groups, like Jack Black, Elijah Wood, and The Roots. Kinda reminds me of Sesame Street in a way.

Anyways, this video passed my way via my husband (check out his company’s video blog). I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time. And ever since I first saw it, I’ve been known to spontaneously break into song and dance… even while driving at 110 kph on the freeway (Ok, NOT recommended).

Too catchy. There is currently a chili and cornbread party in my tummy (homemade of course… YUMMO). I’m trying very hard not to jump on the table and start singing the song. Might interfere with digestion.

Read more about Yo Gabba Gabba here (as written in the Georgia Straight).

I still have to figure out a way to include video in the time capsule. No idea what medium will actually be playable in 30 years. I’m tempted to just include a list, as I have a feeling that we’ll be able to instantly search the world’s media archives from some teeny device implanted in our brains or something. Gotta think about that.

I like alliterations a lot. So terrific (or terrible) tunes on Tuesday it is… My plan is to post a new song every week to document what’s buzzing in my ears (good or bad).

I am already at a conundrum, as I’ve had two songs on repeat on my iPod for the last few days. So I’ll post both of them. They are both from British groups (and I just realized I’m drinking Earl Grey tea at this very moment… with cream and sugar… how English of me). Might have to buy some scones and watch Monty Python later.

1. Mumford and Sons – Little Lion Man

Love. Love. Love. Love the tune, love the harmony, love the banjo, love the least gratuitous use of the word “fuck” that I can think of (seriously, listen to the song and tell me if any other word could possibly work nearly as well?)

2. The Hours – Ali in the Jungle

Yes, this song is four years old. But I just discovered it a few weeks ago and bought the album (Narcissus Road) yesterday. So it’s new to me.

I’ll admit, I had to look up a couple of the references in the chorus. I just finished reading the Poisonwood Bible, which mentions the 1974 Foreman/Ali fight (the “Rumble in the Jungle” that took place in Zaire, which is now the Congo), so I had that one figured out. Nelson in jail, Keller in the darkness, Ludwig Van… those were straightforward. But who was “Simpson on the mountain” or “Adams on the docks”?? Thanks to the always helpful Wikipedia, I learned that Joe Simpson is a famous British mountaineer who’s had a few brushes with death, and Francis Adams was an English writier who figured in the labour movement when he stood up for London dockworkers.

I love the video… I wish I could find a better quality version, but this’ll have to do.